Greece’s 3 Best Gelato Artisans: Athens Challenge Results

The Gelato Festival World Masters held its first Greek leg of the new four-year calendar on 4 and 5 March 2023 at the Artoza trade show in Athens, with nine Greek artisans competing. The three top-ranked makers advance to the 2025 Greek Finals of the championship, which is organised with strategic partners Carpigiani and Sigep (Italian Exhibition Group).

How entries were judged

Gelatos were scored on flavour, structure, creativity, and verbal and aesthetic presentation. The panel looked at ingredient choice, the artisan’s mastery of the recipe and the overall result in sight, taste and smell. The jury was Michalis Chatzikalimeris (executive pastry chef, Four Seasons Athens), Tasos Protopsaltis (executive pastry chef and president of the Chef’s Club of Greece) and Petros Mais (executive chef, Tasty Brands).

The winners

1. First place: Makis Mathiasos of Mathiasos, Naxos, with “Cheescake of Naxos”, a cheesecake gelato with Mizithra, a traditional local cheese, variegated with a local Naxos citron
2. Second place: Stylianos Nikolidakis of Kritikos Fournos Daily Bakery Café, Heraklion, with “Cretan Cheesecake”, a cheesecake gelato with a strawberry variegation and Crete cookie crumble
3. Third place: Dimitrios Charalambous of Gelato Palladion, Rodi, with “Yoghurt Orange”, a yoghurt gelato infused with bergamot

The other participants

• George Kostakis, Athenaeum InterContinental Hotel (Athens): “Nocino”
• Kyriakos Kastriotis, The Milky Way (Mykonos): “Happy Pie”
• Louizos Symeonidis, Vanilla Gelateria (Thessaloniki): “The Aegean Vine”
• Themistoklis Asmas, Themis Ice Cream (Thessaloniki): “Crema – Vanilla Madagascar”
• Nikos Zotos, Zotos Gelateria (Fira): “Melitini”
• Yiannis Kornaros, Kornaros Pastry & Gelato (Crete): “Gelato Kalitsouni”

Thirteen years of Gelato Festival

The 2022-2025 edition is the thirteenth year of the event, which debuted in Florence in 2010, inspired by Bernardo Buontalenti’s first gelato recipe in 1559. It grew across Italy and Europe, reached the United States in 2017 and became a world championship that involved more than 3,500 gelato makers in the previous edition.

What this means for gelato makers in Australia

Local specialities, like Naxos citron or Cretan cookies, turn a good gelato into a signature flavour. Majors Group offers Carpigiani gelato machines and Rubicone ingredients across Australia, and Carpigiani Gelato University training can help with recipe balancing.

Source: Carpigiani news. Rewritten for Australia by Majors Group.